AS for the comment "If I got something positive from it, it was because I was a Scientologist." - I am not sure what this means? Does it mean that you would never have gotten that point? Does it mean you only got that point because you were in Scientology? I am interested - I am not trying to score a debate point here, I promise.
Mick, the point I was trying to make was that I found Scientology and because I applied it to my own life, I found myself undergoing changes to the way I thought and acted. Some of these changes were negative and I am still trying to undo the effects. But, some of them were positive, or at least that’s how they appear to me at the moment. Quite possibly I might have made similar changes to myself if I had taken up TM or become a Buddhist or something else. Or perhaps not, but in any case I became a Scientologist, so that’s what defined my life for over 20 years. That’s what I did, not something else.
Some of the things that I benefitted from are to do with looking honestly at my own actions and being able to assume another’s viewpoint and accepting that I might not always be right. And the most powerful one is taking responsibility. Not as blame, as happens so often in the CoS, but as a way of taking ownership and thus being in a position to correct a problem or improve things. I hate it when people say that things just happen to them and there is nothing they can do!
Well yeah - we joined Scientology with the best of intentions - is that an excuse?
It doesn't excuse everything, but if you don't have bad intentions in your heart, should you be castigated if things don't turn out the way you meant them to because of the actions of others with evil in
their hearts?
I’m not trying to make excuses for what I did and what I believed in. Thankfully, I wasn’t a very good Scientologist in terms of getting others in and I don’t think that I was really nasty to anyone in the course of participating in Scientology. I’m sure that I was rather arrogant and ignorant at times, but I hope that I didn’t do anyone any lasting harm.
Unless you count making someone almost wet themselves at my antics while bullbaiting!
I challenge the concept that people become more "ethical" when they join Scientology. I think the opposite is the case - Scientologists are, by and large, the biggest liars, the least helpful and one of the least ethical groups on the face of the earth.
Undoubtedly this is very true for a great number of ‘dedicated’ Scientologists. Getting up the Bridge, or ensuring the safety of the ‘church’ or just bringing enough money in to survive can become the most important thing in the universe and thus justifies almost any action. “That person is a wog – serves them right if I don’t repay a loan – they are out ethics. Tax is a suppression of the up-stat – I shouldn’t pay it. It’s Ok to tell a few white lies if I can get a product, besides they’ll thank me in the end”.
I’m sure most of us have seen examples of this type of thinking. Trouble is, it leads you down a very dark and slippery path. Pretty soon, there’s no return.
That you became a better person Axiom is something for you to be proud of and for us to appreciate - but the praise and kudos belong to you (IMHO) not to Scientology.
I’m not trying to pretend that I’m anyone wonderful (I’d like to, but there are several on ESMB who have met me and know the truth!), but I do try and lead an honest life. There are certain principles and beliefs that are important to me. And I think that is true of many Scientologists – that’s why they joined. But, I also think that to remain in the CoS, you have to be willing to set aside many of these principles and beliefs. Otherwise, you just couldn’t fit in.
Axiom142
Wasn't Moxon involved in op snow white? didn't his name come up in the documentation?
One of my favorite Anons. 
